


christmas, and how it's not the be-all and end-all

by Emmar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Race Changes, Christianity, Gen, Hinduism, Judaism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 07:45:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmar/pseuds/Emmar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus Lupin's first Christmas at Hogwarts is... not how he'd expected it would be.</p><p>(A first-year Marauders story centered on religion.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	christmas, and how it's not the be-all and end-all

Remus Lupin’s first Christmas at Hogwarts is… not as he expected it would be.

He’s staying, which is probably going to be a standard, and so is Sirius and, surprisingly, James. Peter has gone home for the holiday, but Evans is also staying, along with - much to James and Sirius’ chagrin - Snape.

—-

On the first day of the holiday, breakfast is interrupted by Evans’ shriek of joy, and Remus can’t fault the bright look on her face as she turns to Snape and says, “Sev! Mum sent latkes! And _look_!” She draws out of the box from her mother a strange thing Remus doesn’t recognise, like a candlestick but to hold nine candles.

"Where are you going to put it?" Snape asks, head tilted to one side and pleasantly cordial, considering who he’s sat at a table with.  
"I was thinking in the window of the dorm," Evans says. "There’s no other first year girls staying, so I won’t be annoying anyone with the lights, or the blessings."  
Snape nods, once, then sips at his pumpkin juice and, northern accent he tries so hard to hide slipping out, says, “Give us a latke, I’ve been _dying_ for your mum’s cooking.”

—-

On the twentieth, James gets a larger than usual parcel from his mother, and turns to Sirius excitedly as he begins to unpack it all over the breakfast table.

"Not as fancy as your lot has, I bet," he says, and Sirius laughs, picking up the small, magically-shrunken five-faced statue and turning it in his hands.  
"I like yours better. Let’s see what incense they’ve sent, then!"

—-

Asking about midnight mass slips Remus’ mind completely until the twenty-third, as he watches James and Sirius try and outdo each other covering the statue between their beds with various red decorations.

"I’ve got to go talk to McGonagall," he says suddenly, and Sirius looks up briefly, as James picks a stick of incense out of the box his mother sent and whispers the spell to light it.  
"All right," Sirius says. "We’ll be here."

Professor McGonagall isn’t in her office, but she _is_ in the great hall, eating breakfast with quiet dignity - it’s _weird_ to see teachers looking so human.

"May I help you, Mr Lupin?" she says, thin eyebrows raised.  
"Um," he says, fiddling with the hem of his jumper, "I was wondering if I might be allowed to attend midnight mass, Professor."  
"Where?"  
"Well," Remus says, confused, "I assumed there was a church in the village…"  
"There is, but I’m afraid students are not permitted off the grounds without supervision, and we simply do not have the numbers to facilitate it this year."  
"Oh."

His voice must come out smaller than he intended, because McGonagall takes pity on him then, smiling gently.

"There is, however," she says, fishing a scrap of parchment from god-knows-where in her robes, "a chapel, on the east side of the grounds." When she hands him the parchment, after a wave of her wand, Remus realises she’s transfigured it into a map.

"Thank you, Professor," he says, stunned, and she smiles again.  
"You are most welcome, Mr Lupin. I suppose I will be seeing you very early on Christmas morning."

—-

(Remus still gives James and Sirius presents, even though they don’t celebrate Christmas, because they’re his _friends_ and it would feel wrong not to.)

—-

At the end of January, Christmas hols all but forgotten, Peter presents the three of them with red envelopes and says, “From my parents. Happy New Year.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everything is clear enough and that I haven't grievously overstepped, as I myself am not at all religious! For reference, James and Sirius are both Hindu, and desi in terms of race; Lily is an Ashkenazi Jew, Peter is a Chinese Buddhist, and Remus is a black Christian. (Poor Sev just _is_ , bless him. Indeterminate race, indeterminate religion, because I am indecisive as hell.)


End file.
